The Simple Stencil {Review and $50 Giveaway!!}

Have I got a treat for you!! A few weeks ago I came in contact with the lovely Jennifer of The Simple Stencil. She kindly offered to send me her product to review AND she is generously hosting a giveaway...keep reading!

She saw on my headboard post that I mentioned I needed to change my old vinyl above my bed. My headboard covered up part of it, and it just didn't fit anymore. See below...
I browsed around her site trying to decide what to choose from all of her BEAUTIFUL designs! There is an AWESOME feature on her site where you can click on your wall color and click on the stencil color to preview what it would look like on YOUR WALL! How handy is that?! I have honestly looked around other vinyl sites before and given up because they were hard to navigate. The Simple Stencil is AMAZING! I told her I couldn't decide between the Laurel Wreath Monogram and the Vintage Bird Cage. While I was just looking for her opinion, she offered to send me BOTH! After receiving them today here is what I decided...

I love the classic look of the Laurel Wreath Monogram, and thought it looked fantastic above my new headboard! The directions are simple and clear. Tape it where you want it, level it, center it. flip it up and gently peel away the bottom paper, leaving the vinyl on the transfer tape.

Smooth it out. I used a plastic scraper.

Gently peel away the transfer tape. If it sticks to the tape in any places, just gently ease it off with your hand as you peel.

I found it was easier to rip the transfer tape in half after removing half of it. That wasn't in the directions, but since it was such a HUGE piece, it made it easier to handle for me.

Since I have textured walls, I pressed the vinyl down with my fingers to get it in the cracks. Since your finger is soft and the scraper is not, it made it easier to get a final "stick" to the wall.

VOILA! Beautiful Simple Stencil! I love it when I can get an effect like this without paint! You might be surprised to know that I HATE painting and LOATHE Mod Podge!

Next, it was onto my bird cage! I used the same steps to apply this one.

I LOVE how they turned out!

If you're thinking "I could do that on my machine at home" ...think again! This monogram is 30"x22.5"!

I was surprised to find that there was a THIRD piece in my package! She sent me our last name! So sweet! She told me in one of her emails that she just loves having happy customers...I believe it!! I am still debating where this will go. I am thinking about putting it on my front door.

Ok....are you ready to enter??? Up for grabs is a $50 Credit to The Simple Stencil!!

Mandatory:

Visit The Simple Stencil website.

Check out the fabulous designs and copy and

paste the url of your favorite design into your comment on this blog post.

Extra Entry:

"Like" Simple Stencils on Facebook

Ok, go enter! What are you waiting for?! ;) I will pick a winner on Friday May 13th!

Monogram Charger

I wandered into Pier 1 today and as soon as I walked in the door, these beautiful wooden chargers were jumping out at me!

Just LOOK at how beautiful they are!! They are even prettier in person! They are an off-white color and distressed beautifully! They are $12.00 each, so I only bought one! Haha! I'm wondering if the little Easter chickies by the register were chanting "cheep, cheep" when I was checking out!

I can't really use chargers except for special occasions, so I didn't want to invest that much into a set. Honestly even if I were rich I wouldn't spend that much on a set of chargers. BUT I thought I would buy one and see what I could do with it! I actually planned on just keeping it stashed away and put it out when I serve a plate of cookies or something.

BUT when I got home and got it out of the bag, I knew I had to do something with it! I decided it would be cute with a monogram initial, cut out in black vinyl. So I got out my handy dandy Silhouette and used my favorite LD Dainty font to cut a big "B". After that, I cut around it with scissors {saving as much vinyl as I can} and did the same for my transfer tape. I peeled the paper off the back of the transfer tape and smoothed it down onto my vinyl B.

Next I carefully peeled the tape off the vinyl, making sure the B was sticking with each move.

Then I laid it down in the position I wanted, and pressed hard along the B.

Next you just peel off the transfer tape slowly.

Voila!

I decided it would replace something that was really old and out-dated on the top of my kitchen cupboards.

I used a plate rack I already had. Actually it looks like it's for cookbooks, so the hunt is on for a new one.

Look at how wide the base is. I don't like it for this because of the angle when you are looking up at it, the iron kind of gets in the way. It needs to be a narrower plate rack. Looks like I need to make a trip to Hobby Lobby! Darn! ;)

I love it and I am still in LOVE with these chargers!! If I wasn't so cheap I'd buy a whole set!

Easter Gable Boxes

I am planning on making these gable boxes to be at the table for Easter dinner. I am going to make them for each child that will be there. I bought my boxes at Box and Wrap, they are the cheapest I've found- especially if you buy in a group of 25 like I did. These are the largest size they carry {9x6x6}. I cut out the names on my Sihouette using the LD Dainty font. I bought the bunny at the Silhouette online store for $0.99. It actually came with other bunny shapes as well, but I really liked this one. The flower shapes came with the software. I cut the grass and stems out of green vinyl by hand with an exacto knife.

Each box will be slightly different, some will have Easter eggs on them, some butterflies. I plan on using different colors to cut the names out.

I am going to put some paper shred in the bottom and fill with a few treats. The bubble wands and bunny candy jar were both from the Dollar Tree. I'm going to fill the jar with candy, and probably make some chocolate covered peep bunnies to add as well.

Here is a close up of the ribbons I used on this one.

Sorry for the blurriness- it was hard to get the pink vinyl to show up on camera without using the flash that would wash it out completely.

They also sell them in white I believe! The shipping took longer than I expected, probably about 2 weeks, but if you order in advance, this is the cheapest I've found! All of my vinyl came from Expressions Vinyl.

Linking up to week 2 of Spring Fling at This Blessed Nest.

Reusable Cup - Personalized!

I cannot claim this idea as my own, I got the idea from my super crafty friend Trish! She bought a hard plastic reusable cup {if you haven't seen them, they are at craft stores and Marshalls, as well as Bed, Bath and Beyond- they are super hard plastic with a screw on lid and hard plastic straw that has a stopper on it so that it doesn't fall all the way out.I bought my cup at Hobby Lobby yesterday and couldn't wait to cut some vinyl to personalize it. Trish has big red polka dots on hers and it's super cute! I think she used outdoor vinyl. I didn't have any outdoor, so I used regular vinyl and so far it shows no sign of coming off when I wash it by hand.

I love these two colors together and the shape I decided on! I order all of my vinyl from Expressions Vinyl and they are great! I strongly recommend them, as well as ordering the sample ring so that you always can match up exact colors for your projects before ordering.

These would make cute little gifts!

A home for art.

Whew! I said today was "project day" and I wasn't kidding! This is the last one! I bought this board at JoAnns. It was originally $5.99 but I used a 40% Michaels coupon. =) I also bought a bag of mini clothespins (not the TINY ones, but the small ones) for $2.49.I painted the board using the antique white paint my hubster used yesterday on my other projects.

Here is the dry board. I also cut out "create" with my cricut and vinyl.

Next I centered the vinyl cutout. I didn't do it wrong, the word is supposed to float like that...it's connected. =)

I hot glued some ribbon on the back to hang it up. I also made some muslin and white tulle flowers with buttons for centers.

I hot glued the clothespins along the bottom edge and voila! Now the girls have a place to hang all of their drawings instead of leaving them all over the house! Nice, easy and cheap addition to the play area!

P.S. Trish- This board was inspired by your "doodles and drawings" board. =)

Chalkboard from junk...

I saw a really cute post yesterday, click on the link to see what inspired me! Last night I went to Rescued Treasures...shock! I found this oval frame with an ugly picture in it for $3.00. I wish it would have been cheaper but oh well.I didn't notice it was cracked until I got it home and was taking out the picture. So I super glued it and lived with it.

I picked up some ivory spray paint and a jar of chalkboard paint. This little plaque was $0.59 at JoAnns. Yes I am shameless and sent my husband through the line separately so that we could both use a coupon on the paints.

I spraypainted the frame and the plaque, although not fast enough apparently because when I got up this morning, Cami had already taken the plaque (or mirror as she called it) and was coloring on it with markers. Plan B- the spraypaint wouldn't stick to where she colored with markers so I will be making another JoAnns trip and adding it later. I painted 3 coats of chalkboard paint on a THICK piece of cardboard I cut with a craft knife.

I put the new board in the frame and closed the staples. Later I will add the plaque, painted in the same ivory to the top area of chalkboard. I will probably glue on something cut out from my cricut as well...we'll see.

It looks better in person than in the picture. The lighting in the picture brings out the texture of the board too much. But I love it!

UPDATE! I added this pic of the final product! I painted a new plaque this afternoon and cut out a cute bird from my cricut vinyl. I am in love with how this turned out!